DJDS High Schooler Wins Third in Junior Pan Am

Denver Jewish Day School freshman, Ronan Beale, placed forth in the Pan American Karate Tournament. The PanAm Tournament took place the week of September fourteenth through twenty-first in Asuncion, Paraguay.

The PanAm is an international event across the Americas that takes place every other year, organized by the World Karate Federation. Karate became a permanent event in PanAm in 1995. It’s important to athletes who wish to compete at higher-level competitions, including the World Karate Championships. 

This year, about eighty people competed in Karate. Beale started karate when he was ten years old, and it took lots of trial and error to build up to PanAm, going from local to national to international competitions. “This was all through hours of practice, and even when I lost, I still stood back up and kept trying,” Beale said. 

For the last four years, Beale has practiced on average for two hours a day, only slowing down when he is preparing for a tournament. He is now a purple belt, which is two levels below a karate black belt. Fourth place in PanAm makes Beale one of the top karate students in North, Central, and South America. 

Karate tournaments like this are very competitive and selective. To be selected, you have to make the national team in your country, and even then, only the best make PanAm. “It's very hard to keep up with karate and school; most of the time, I don't have enough time to do my homework,” Beale said. 

Among the hours of practice, Beale has missed weeks of school to travel to places such as Paraguay for PanAm. When asked about his future goals for karate, Beale answered, “My karate goals are to gain a world ranking and break into the top ten people for my age and weight.” He also said that he wants to adapt as he changes weight groups and competitors. His next tournament will be in Italy in December.